Barber County Kansas

Lake City, Barber County, Kansas

L.A. Draper Livery, Feed and Sale Barn, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, early 1900s.
L.A. Draper Livery, Feed and Sale Barn, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, early 1900s.
Lew Draper is the 4th man from the left in this photo.
The livery stable was on the north side of Main Street, just west of the brick building that is on Main St. in 2005.
Photo courtesy of Lois Kenworthy Mills, granddaughter-in-law of Lew Draper and Ada (Laury) Draper.
View Larger Image

USGS Aerial Photo of Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, 17 Aug 1991.
USGS Aerial Photo of Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, 17 Aug 1991.
Scale: 1 pixel = 4 meters

Plot Map of Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.
Plot Map of Lake City, Barber County, Kansas. From the 'Standard Atlas of Barber County Kansas', 1905.
Map courtesy of Kimberly (Hoagland) Fowles.
View a much larger image of this map.


The Kansas Gazeteer & Business Directory For 1882-1883

Lake City. Laid out in 1874, on Medicine Lodge river, in Lake City township, Barbour county, 18 miles from Medicine Lodge (ch), and 67 air line from Hutchinson, its shipping point on the AT&SF RR. It has a Methodist society, a public school, and 40 inhabitants. Stages to Medicine Lodge tri-weekly, far $1; to Hutchinson, for $5.50. Mail, tri-weekly Reuben Lake, postmaster.

Buck, E.E. - cattle dealer
Carl, Wm. - live stock
Frazier, C.T. - blacksmith
Funk, S.S. - live stock
Gordon, James - cattle dealer
Hale, I.W. - blacksmith
Hale, James W. - cattle dealer
Hargis, A.J. - cattle dealer
Heston, Lewis - cattle dealer
Lake, M.N. & Co. - general store
Lake, Reuben - cattle dealer
Overturf, ___ - shoemaker
Patterson, A.J. - sheep dealer
Thompson, W.O. - cattle dealer

(Contributed by Kim Fowles).


The Kansas Gazeteer & Business Directory For 1888-1889

Lake City. On Medicine Lodge river, and on the SK Ry, in Barber county, 18 miles from Medicine Lodge, the county seat and bank location. It has a church, a public school, several stores and a weekly newspaper, The Kansas Prairie Dog. Stages to Medicine Lodge and Sun City. Exp., Wells Fargo & Co. Tel, W.U. Population 300. Reuben Lake, postmaster.

(Contributed by Kim Fowles).


Lake City

Lake City, the site of it rather, was discovered by Reuben Lake in April, 1873. It is situated in Lake township, in the heart of the stock region, eighteen miles northwest of Medicine Lodge, with which is connected by a daily stage and mail line.

Its natural location is all that could be desired. In a deep valley, backed on the north by the bluff that rises above it, with the Medicine River, fringed with a dense growth of forest trees on the south, it is very beautiful.

In the early eighties, Lake had great prospects, and was a busy, bustling village of 350 inhabitants and came about as near making itself solid for the future as any of the numerous towns that started during that eventful period. It got so far along even, that the Santa Fe Co. projected a line of railroad from Medicine Lodge to Lake, secured the right of way and completed the grade. Then something happened, we do not know exactly what, anyway the work was abandoned and the metropolitan hopes of Lake City vanished.

Perhaps it is just as well, it is a good town anyway, one of the best trading points in the county. Has two large business houses and a blacksmith shop, all that is needed to supply the wants of the town and the community surrounding it.

It has a fine school building and there are many fine residences. The Masonic order is represented here and is perhaps the strongest lodge in Barber county, numerically and financially, having a membership of forty and a surplus fund of $500 in the treasury. The M.W.A. [probably Modern Woodmen of America] is also represented by a membership of eighteen.

The hospitality of the people is unbounded and the latch string always hangs out.

-- "Barber County Townships:, Medicine Lodge Cresset, March 2, 1900. Contributed by Ellen (Knowles) Bisson.


Lake City Methodist Church, Lake City, Kansas.
Lake City Methodist Church on the east side of Lake City, Kansas, looking south.
Photo by Nathan Lee, 15 December 2006.

Lake City School, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.
Lake City School, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.
Photo and comment courtesy of Kim Fowles

Draper Hill near Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, 2005.
Draper Hill near Lake City, Barber County, Kansas, 2005
Photo by Kim Fowles, 2005.

The Hoagland Ranch near Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.
The Hoagland Ranch near Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.
Photo courtesy of Ronnie Hoagland of Oak Creek Ranch
Thanks to Kim Fowles for arranging permission to use this photograph.

The Bank Building, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.

The Bank Building, built 1907, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.

Photo from the collection of Kim Fowles.
The Bank Building, built 1907, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.
The Lake City Post Office was in this building after the bank closed.
Photo from the collection of Kim Fowles.

"Here is a photo of the Lake State Bank. The Lake City Post Office was in this bank while I was growing up. It was not a bank at that time. It was a huge vacant building, except for the post office. I don't know where the different buildings for the post office prior to that time were located. I wanted you to see a photo of the building, but will get a photo of the front from when it was used as a post office."
-- Kim Fowles, from an email to Jerry Ferrin, 8 March 2006.

Lake City Post Office

Lake City, Barber County, Kansas


Lake City, Kansas, Post Office Postmark, DEC 6, 1929, from an envelope addressed to Frank Hoagland, Sun City, Kans.

Collection of Kimberly (Hoagland) Fowles.
Postmark: Lake City, Kansas, DEC 6, 1929 P.M.
From an envelope addressed to Frank Hoagland, Sun City, Kans.
Collection of Kim (Hoagland) Fowles.


Name: Title: Date Appointed:
Gideon C. Smith Postmaster 12/09/1873
Reuben Lake Postmaster 12/03/1875
Isaac C. Cuppy Postmaster 10/03/1888
Grant G. Shigley Postmaster 12/13/1889
Henry F. Lake Postmaster 07/20/1907
Mrs. Rose Lake Acting Postmaster 02/28/1951
Mrs. Beulah V. Robbins Postmaster 08/23/1951
Mrs. Mary E. Bahl Acting Postmaster 12/12/1958
Mrs. Mary E. Bahl Postmaster 08/13/1959
Mrs. Mary G. Hartley Acting Postmaster 12/27/1965
Mrs. Thelma M. Compton       Acting Postmaster       06/03/1966
Mrs. Thelma M. Compton Postmaster 08/28/1967
Judith S. Hoagland Officer-In-Charge 09/30/1985
Judith S. Hoagland Postmaster 01/18/1986

Service suspended on October 3, 1990.

Discontinued on December 18, 1993; mail to Medicine Lodge

(Postal Bulletin 21856)


Reuben Lake was born in 1839 in Canada, moving to Illinois with his family when he was 16, and after service with the Union Army, emigrating to Mission near Erie in eastern Kansas, but later on to Barber County.

In April of 1873, together with ten companions, which included a younger brother, Frederick, as well as his son Riley, he came to Barber County. There he erected a sawmill to obtain lumber for the houses which were built. The families came in August but returned to Mission because of an Indian scare, immediately turning around as soon as the scare was over.

From then on the history of Reuben Lake and that of Lake City was inevitably mixed. Reuben, in the fall of 1873, was appointed the first (sic) postmaster of Lake City, mail being brought from Medicine Lodge by horseback. The first post office, along with a store, was in Reuben's home.

-- The Chosen Land, page 268.



Reuben Lake, Postmaster, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.

Photo from the collection of Kim Fowles.
Reuben Lake
Lake City Postmaster, 3 Dec 1875 - 3 Oct 1888
Photo courtesy of Kim Fowles.

Grant G. Shigley, Postmaster, Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.

Photo from the collection of Kim Fowles.
Grant G. Shigley
Lake City Postmaster, 13 Dec 1889 - 20 July 1907
Photo courtesy of Kim Fowles.


Also see:

Lake City Plot Map, Barber County, Kansas
From Standard Atlas of Barber County, Kansas, 1905. Courtesy of Kim Fowles.

Sun City Post Office, Sun City, Kansas


Thanks to Kim (Hoagland) Fowles for contributing the above information and images to this web site!


Also see:

Lake City Cemetery, burial listing compiled and contributed by Bonnie (Garten) Shaffer

Charles B. "Keno" Armstrong   Stagecoach driver who drove for Reuben and Riley Lake.

Reuben Lake
Civil War veteran, first Sheriff of Barber County, founder of Lake City, Kansas.

Riley Lake, son of Reuben Lake.

Fight At Lake City
Barber County Index, February 3, 1909.

G.G. Shigley, grocery store owner, banker and Postmaster.

H.S. Buck, "...runs a drug store, sells hardware and farm implements, buggies, wagons, etc., in Lake City."

Murray Austin Davis, resident of Lake City.

John & Elizabeth Durfee, residents of Lake City.

Lake City Post Office and Postmasters, 1873 - 1993.

The Lake City Bank Building, Lake City, Kansas.

Lake City School, Barber County, Kansas

Lake City Plot Map, Barber County, Kansas
From Standard Atlas of Barber County, Kansas, 1905. Courtesy of Kim Fowles.


The following off-site links will open in a new browser window.

Hometown Locator: Lake City, Kansas

Cassius Marcellus Cade:   "Riley Lake and Rube Lake of Lake City, gave us our first stage coach line from Medicine Lodge and "Keno" was the best driver that ever held "ribbons" over six mules. He drove a rockaway stage, now extinct."





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